Dominant Kangaru retain rugby 15s title in Embu School Games

Kangaru rugby 15s team defended their Embu County Secondary School title in a hard-fought final winning 6-0 against St Paul Kevote on a muddy surface at the Kangaru Girls High school.

Kangaru who were semifinalists in the nationals last year got two penalties in each half which were scored by skipper Collins Maina and Dennis Mugambi.

In an interview with Citizen Digital, Kangaru head coach Benson Mwenda hailed his team’s performance, adding that their target is now to reach the nationals and the East Africa games.

“I’m very happy with the boys’ performance and our main target now is to reach the nationals and the East Africa games.”

According to Mwenda, the level of competition has this year gone up.

“This year the standard of the game is much higher than last year,” he said, adding that, “last year we defeated Kevote 40-0 but today we have only managed six against them.”

He went on: “Although the game started after a heavy downpour the boys stuck to the game plan which enabled us win the match.”

Mwenda added that the aim is to now train hard as they shift focus to the regionals, with focus on the racks and kicks.

St Paul Kevote head coach Boniface Muthama was gracious in defeat congratulating Kangaru for the win.

“We have reached the regionals in the past years but we have never qualified for the nationals so we have to train harder for us to reach the nationals and maybe the East Africa games in Rwanda.”

According to Muthama, the rainy weather destroyed their game plan because they started with a quick passing game which couldn’t apply on a muddy ground.

“In this kind of environment, the only way to maneouver and conquer the enemy is to use the kicks which I think we going to work out in the rainy season.”

Both teams have qualified for the regionals joined by third-place Yonder Karwigi which qualified by virtue of being the host designate of the regional finals.

At the same time, Kangaru Boys retained the hockey title after defeating Kanyuombora Boys 1-0. In the girls category Gategi Girls who reached the nationals last year narrowly defeated Kianjuki Day by a similar margin.

In handball boys finals defending champions Kanyuombora had to fight to the last minute to defeat the uprising Kiambere Complex 15-14 to retain their title while in the In the girl’s category, St Barnabas Kathari were crowned the  new champions after thrashing Gitaraka Girls 13-1 in the finals.

In Summary

Rugby 15s champion

Kangaru Boys

Basketball Boys

Kangaru School

Basketball Girls

Kyeni Girls

Hockey Boys

Kangaru Boys

Hockey Girls

Gategi Girls

Handball Boys

Kanyuambora

Handball Girls

St Barnabas Kathari